The Gulf of Mexico hides under its waters the Chikshulub crater, which is 200 kilometers wide. It is the site of the fall of the asteroid, which caused the destruction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago
Rock specialists in different parts of the world find a very thin layer of clay, which is 66 million years old. It contains iridium. This element is considered incredibly rare on our planet, but it is found in large quantities in space rocks.
Due to this, scientists were able to establish the exact date of the fall of the asteroid. The collision was so strong that it completely affected the entire Earth.
The experts collected all the data obtained during the study and found that the cause of the catastrophic consequences was not only the size of the asteroid and its speed.
It should be noted that its diameter was 12 kilometers, and its speed was 43 thousand kilometers per hour. The collision with our planet occurred at the most destructive angle of 60 degrees. Because of this, a lot of fragments and dust got into the atmosphere during the impact.
This was established thanks to modeling, in which real parameters of a geological nature were used. The impact also released about 325 gigatons of sulfur and 435 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The cloud spread around the Earth and the planet began to receive less heat and sunlight. This led to a sharp drop in the average temperature from 27 degrees to 5. In addition, stones and ash began to return to the Earth, which rose upward, which caused many forest fires.
